I have noticed characters talking about the features of their cars, their smart phones, and even gel insoles to make their heels more comfortable. I know it is the price I pay for wanting to fast forward through the DVRed commercials, but some things are getting comical.

Joined: Tue Nov 30, 2010 8:03 pmPosts: 5709Location: The State Of No R's

_________________"...anarchists only want to burn cars and punch cops."- nickvicious"We'll be eating our own words 30 years from now when we're demanding our legislators outlaw aerosol-based cyber dildo-wielding death holograms."- Brian

Joined: Tue Nov 30, 2010 8:03 pmPosts: 5709Location: The State Of No R's

There was that failed product placement that they tried to do for a phone in PLL. It was so obvious what they were doing that I think it just annoyed viewers.

_________________"...anarchists only want to burn cars and punch cops."- nickvicious"We'll be eating our own words 30 years from now when we're demanding our legislators outlaw aerosol-based cyber dildo-wielding death holograms."- Brian

One entire season of One Tree Hill was blatantly, ridiculously sponsored by Sunkist Orange soda. So noticeable, as you pretty much never see that stuff anywhere in real life.

I've been watching Pretty Little Liars the last month or so and am almost caught up to the current episodes. I've actually been surprised at how few product placements there are - that show is rife with opportunity, given how much time they spend on their phones. I'm shocked the whole thing hasn't been a Sprint commercial since day 1.

I think the show that wins has to be Passions (also, why aren't episodes online?!). It was such a cheesy, over-the-top show anyway, so the product placement was equally so. I am pretty sure one of the characters held, and talked about, a bottle of shampoo for at least a week.

ETA: Now I am obsessing with how meta the show was. When the book about the show came out, the character who supposedly "wrote" the book had a book signing at the show's cafe. As a plot point on the show.

They Hyundai product placement was so blatant on the Burn Notice episode I was watching last night. It was like the main character was doing a commercial voice-over. And now that I think about it the Hyundai advertising was really bad in The Walking Dead.

There was a really gratuitous thing in Fringe where somebody bought a cup of coffee by waving their (obviously branded) phone over a sensor and using, I dunno, some kind of phone payment system thingy in the first couple of minutes of the episode. Then they used that as sort of a plot direction thingy in a seriously blatant and obvious way-- like, "Their phone says they just bought a cup of coffee at the stand on the station platform." "Their PHONE?" "Yeah, this is how people buy things now." Well, no it isn't.

The the person who bought the coffee perished in a maelstrom of exploding blood from their pores or melted into goo or was dissolved into dust by nanomachines or something, so it wasn't really a great thing to have connected with buying stuff by phone, but there it was anyway.

Does Project Runway count? They've always had blatant product placement, but at least it's usually somehow related to the theme of the show (L'Oreal and the like) but the recent Lexus challenge was just ridiculous.

I don't watch many US shows anymore, so I haven't seen how out of control it's gotten, but the first time I thought it had really gone over the edge was the Friends episode "The One with the Apothecary Table" which was one long ad for Pottery Barn.

_________________Ain't no guarantees in life, and nothing that comes out of my vagina can change that. - Erika Soyf*cker

Product placement is just one of the reasons Bones is awful, but it is particularly bad on that show. I've only seen it when I absolutely could not reach couch escape velocity, and one of those few episodes was the one where they went to see Avatar. Really. A whole episode half-dedicated to camping out for Avatar.

This kind of thing gets into video games too, even good games. A particularly egregious example is Shawn White Skateboard, which was almost entirely sponsored by Stride gum. Alan Wake, which is fantastic, has some pretty obvious product placement, with the batteries in the game being specifically Energizer, and Verizon. At one point Alan utters the words "Can you hear me now?" into his cellphone, and there is an achievement for watching a 30 second Verizon commercial in the game.

Oh and we can't forget the most obvious video games sponsored by products; Yo! Noid, Cool Spot, McKids, that Pepsi game, Chex Quest. I put those in a different category than games that are blatantly sponsored by non-video game related products. Oh and Darkened Skye, which looked like your typical Gamecube action RPG, except that it's all about Skittles. That one was sneaky.

Cars tend to be the biggest one I notice (no pun intended...) I once got stuck with a rental Versa while my car was being repaired and couldn't get in without shouting "To the Nissan Versa!" (or whatever Hiro said in Heroes) Breaking Bad is all about the cars, too.

For some reason I thought that HBO was exempt from product placement besides for Apple computers everywhere, but it was a little much when a character on True Blood says "it's all about the Sonic". Why don't you just look at the camera and scream, go buy Sonic! Bah! So annoying.

Product placement is just one of the reasons Bones is awful, but it is particularly bad on that show. I've only seen it when I absolutely could not reach couch escape velocity, and one of those few episodes was the one where they went to see Avatar. Really. A whole episode half-dedicated to camping out for Avatar.

I was going to ask what show you were watching because I do not remember that, but...

My favorite is when Always Sunny started being sponsored by Coors Light (the worst beer for the worst bar?), and it was clear that they were blowing all of that money on the rights to play famous songs in the show for no reason. Like there's one where you can hear 'We Built This City' on in the background. No one comments on it, it doesn't tie into the episode in any way.

_________________"The Tree is His Penis"

The tree is his penis // it's very exciting // when held up to his mouth // the lights are all lighting // his eyes start a-bulging // in unbridled glee // the tree is his penis // its beauty, effulgent -amandabear

For some reason I thought that HBO was exempt from product placement besides for Apple computers everywhere, but it was a little much when a character on True Blood says "it's all about the Sonic". Why don't you just look at the camera and scream, go buy Sonic! Bah! So annoying.

And this is why I love 30 Rock, hey at least get to make fun of it from time to time.

The Apple thing is pretty much on every TV show, movie, etc. Brilliant marketing plus deeply loyal fans in high places make this a given. If I were in charge, everyone would use ASUS tablets, but whatever.

I never noticed that about Always Sunny, but I just watch it the Comedy Central night on Mondays when I have time.

It was either the last season or the season before that when it started. They don't talk about the beer, but they have commercials about them being sponsored by Coors and there's a Coors tap and bottles in the bar and shiitake.

Oh, Rupaul is also great at cheeky product placement. Drag Race and Drag U is paid for by a lot of little sponsors instead of just a few big ones (although they do have Absolut), so an example will be, "The winner of today's challenge will receive a custom sequined gown from gownsforqueens.com. That's gownsforqueens.com!" Followed by a wink right at the camera with a ding. Also you should check out Rupaul's new single, now available on iTunes.

_________________"The Tree is His Penis"

The tree is his penis // it's very exciting // when held up to his mouth // the lights are all lighting // his eyes start a-bulging // in unbridled glee // the tree is his penis // its beauty, effulgent -amandabear